When most employers think of whistleblowers, they likely envision employees like Sherron Watkins and Cynthia Cooper, the Enron and WorldCom whistleblowers who helped bring to light the accounting irregularities that led to the collapses of their respective employers. Indeed, it was that very type of whistleblowing that prompted Congress to establish the anti-retaliation provisions set forth in Section 806 of the Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act of 2002 (Sarbanes-Oxley Act or SOX), the sweeping reform legislation enacted to restore public confidence in corporate accounting and reporting in the wake of these and other high-profile corporate scandals.
For years, however, SOX whistleblower protections focused on the traditional, easy-to-spot whistleblowers like Watkins and Cooper. Many employees who claimed SOX protection fell outside of this scope. The statistics bore this out, and through May 2011, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — the federal agency responsible for receiving and investigating SOX whistleblower complaints — had issued merit findings in just 21 SOX cases and dismissed 1,211 others, a dismal winning percentage of less than 2 percent.
